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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Off-Topic: Nexus between Creativity and Mentorship

A few hours ago, I was watching
one of my all-time favourite movies “Swati Kiranam” (Telugu) starring
Mammootty, Radhika and
Master Manjunath (of Maligudi Days fame). The film narrates the fictional
story of a singing prodigy whose creativity is steadily snubbed and snuffed out
by an established classical singer under the garb of mentorship.

For me, the movie has three
different take-aways:

1. Those of us who look for role
models elsewhere would do well to draw inspiration from the glorious tradition
of Indian Classical music which has produced perfectionists of the highest
order.

2. Barring exceptions, raw
unhewed creativity, without the benefit of mentorship, can only produce a few flashes
of brilliance. Mentorship is imperative for consistent creativity.

3. Mentors must protect themselves
from being afflicted by jealousy/envy.

“Consistent creativity” may sound
oxymoronic thanks to the spirit of mavericism which has
come to be associated with creativity. “Consistency” has probably become synonymous
with lack of imagination and “standardization”. If “consistent creativity” is
re-worded as “disciplined creativity”, it has too rigid a connotation and may
not find favour with many.

That said, if one were to set
aside all hair-splitting on semantics, and instead were to focus on the essence
behind “consistent creativity”, one would understand that what is sought to be
conveyed is a sense of responsibility which must go hand in hand with
creativity. In other words, the truly talented/gifted ones must utilize their
potential to the fullest possible extent, with a broad world view characterising the use
to which such talent is put.

Responsibility/duty, contrary to
the popular notion, is not a burden on “talent”. In fact, it builds a
foundation which helps talent withstand negativity in the form of criticism
motivated by vested interest and baser emotions like jealousy. A sense of responsibility
gives talent a direction, instead of letting talent dissipate its energies in
frivolous myopic pursuits or ego-trips or a game of one-upmanship.

Importantly, a duty-based approach
to talent ensures that exhibitionism remains at bay, and the cause or purpose
remains supreme. This is critical because talent, if not tempered by duty, is frequently
mired in self-obsession and self-edification.

As for mentorship and mentors,
the first and foremost qualities expected of them are a large heart and a broad
mind, which are alive to and not unhappy with the prospect of finding a protégé
who is better than the mentor himself or herself can ever be. Those who cannot keep jealousy
at bay must never don the mantle of a mentor because not only does jealousy
harm the protégé, it also pushes the mentor down a disgraceful path.

A good mentor, in my opinion,
never imposes his or her mentorship on the prospective protégé, instead he recognizes
the right of the protégé to accept or reject his or her mentorship. Voluntary
acceptance of mentorship, to me, is a sign that the protégé respects both the
mentor’s individual capabilities and his ability to act as a mentor. The
pivotal role played by such voluntary acceptance is often ignored in a blind pursuit
to “collect” protégés.

Voluntary acceptance of a mentor
ensures that mistakes committed by the mentor are not interpreted by the protégé
as the mentor’s lack of proficiency. Instead, they are treated as errors which
are but human, and are hence not indicative/demonstrative of the mentor’s lack
of talent. This window of error is necessary to avoid loss of respect, and consequent ego tussle between the mentor and the mentored.

Unfortunately, these issues,
which are integral to human resource management, do not appear to engage our
attention as much as they ought to, when we speak of harnessing creativity for
innovation. Sustained innovation calls for repeated introspection on how we
handle creativity, and re-statement of values which we treat as cornerstones of an ecosystem which promotes innovation.

I look forward to hearing from our readers, especially those who have real-time experience in
handling talent in their establishments.